The article on CNN said he was found only 1 1/2 miles away. That's about a 7 square mile search area - I'm surprised it took 3 days to find him - he must have been moving the whole time. Will be interesting to hear the follow-up details.

They have found him tired, dehydrated, BUT alive

This is such great news. I hope the positive outcome doesn't make it be forgotten too soon. It will be interesting to hear how the details shake out on this one.

I know that we will make this a "teachable moment" at our Scout meeting tonight. Fortunately, this turned out ok, but, there were a couple things that we work really hard to avoid in Scouting, and they happened here. Things like always having a buddy when you leave a site. Letting a leader know when you leave a site. 2 deep adult leadership at all times. (That didn't seem to be a factor, in that the boy didn't dissappear until all 3 adults were back in camp anyway, but, it's actually a formal BSA policy to never have one boy and one adult alone, unless the adult is their parent.)

I hope we uncover more about what actually happened here, I think there are some things to learn and share from this.

IMO, The #1 thing that went right in this situation was that boy was dressed for the environment. A fleece jacket inside a heavy winter coat. If you removed either one of those then this probably would have ended differently.

This is a live demostration of why the SHELTER is at the top of the list when it comes to the rule of 3's.

"I wonder if his parents will re-evaluate his Ritalin usage?"

Maybe. Maybe not.

Parents will refuse Ritalin or reduce the dosage all based on the uproar the Scientologists made in their war on mental health, not on any research they've done themselves.

If the kid couldn't see the blackboard or computer monitor, they wouldn't hesitate to get him glasses would they? But I suppose that giving him the proper dose of something that would help him focus long enough to cross a street without being hit by a car, or to assist in his own rescue is too much to expect.

(Mods: I still think we need a Smiley Face with a good sneer.)

Sue

Like someone else said, probably not. Lots of kids/parents use it for school only. Though to take him off for the few days he's out of school while hiking is DUMB (I wonder how long it takes to get back to therapeutic level of ritalin?).

If I recall, some of the side effects aren't that welcome, so over summer the kids just stop taking it. Remember, most kids with ADHD are fidgety and interrupt others, in addition to having trouble with school. So, taking the drug during school helps the whole class, not just that person.

Most kids with what is called ADHD are perfectly normal kids, who are suffering from sugar shock from the crap they drink, from toxic reactions to the coloring and additives in the "food" they eat.

Passive bovine children are certainly easier to manage. But fidgeting and interruption is NORMAL BEHAVIOR FOR CHILDREN. It's not a "disease"at all - we're treating childhood and all it means as a pathology.

This article in the New York Times has this snippet:

"Peg L. Smith, the chief executive officer of the American Camp Association, a trade group with 2,600 member camps and three million campers, says about a quarter of the children at its camps are medicated for attention deficit disorder, psychiatric problems or mood disorders."

25% percent of the population of children can't be so mentally ill (and ADHD is a mental illness) that they need drugs. It's like saying that 25% of the population has cancer or AIDS. A population with 25% of the members suffering a pathology can't survive, no matter what the pathology.

Children are not convenient.
Children are not alway easy to deal with.
Children are not machines to be turned on and off when it suits parents and teachers.
Children are smarter than you think and less rational than you can imagine.

Children are small people with limited experience. As a result, they don't know how to act like adults, and they should net be expected to do so.

You've hit a raw, raw nerve with me here, because I've seen what Ritalin and the other drugs do to exuberant, brilliant, but excitable children.
"The Onion" a satirical weekly paper, had a brilliant "news" article about Ritalin a few years ago:
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/32261

"WORCESTER, MA—Area 7-year-old Douglas Castellano's unbridled energy and creativity are no longer a problem thanks to Ritalin, doctors for the child announced Monday. "After years of failed attempts to stop Douglas' uncontrollable bouts of self-expression, we have finally found success with Ritalin," Dr. Irwin Schraeger said. "For the first time in his life, Douglas can actually sit down and not think about lots of things at once." Castellano's parents reported that the cured child no longer tries to draw on everything in sight, calming down enough to show an interest in television."

OK, I'm stepping off this thread because I'll go totally ballistic if I see another post extolling the virtues of easy-to-manage drugged children.

Bravo, Martin, Bravo.

YES!!!!

Studies have shown (Science Daily) kids who spend time playing outdoors have greatly improved attention spans. Maybe it's because they blew off a bunch of excess energy?! Who knows, but it's better than drugging them. Maybe the scout was off Ritalin in the woods because he didn't need Ritalin in the woods.

-Blast, giving Martin a standing ovation

I'm with you there. I'm sure there are one or two kids somewhere that really need Ritalin, but if you go by the usual symptoms of ADHD, just about every single kid has it!

Go here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention-Deficit_Disorder#Diagnosis
and tell me that doesn't describe every kid you know.

Heck, I must have had it. After all, I accidentally shot my third grade teacher with a crossbow made from a large hairpin, a mechanical pencil and string pulled out of my sock. Maybe I still have it…

I'm a firm believer in the Bill Cosby school of child psychology:
"All children have brain damage."